Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Weather Man

As you hopefully know, the equator runs through Kenya and Nairobi is just south of it.  One of my former students did ask me when I announced I was moving from South Carolina to Kenya if I was "going to save the polar bears." So I just thought I would make sure we were all on the same page about the equator up front.

Anyway, living this close to the middle line of latitude means several things regarding the weather.  Instead of having four distinct seasons, we have four periods of weather.  The hottest part supposedly is Dec and Jan and it's dry until the long rains start in April.  We head into a dry "winter" in July and August (40's-80's) and it gets warmer until we get the short rains in October to cool things off a bit.  So on and so forth.

Here's the issue: it's been rather warm the last several days and bright and sunny.  By rather warm I mean, why don't we have air conditioning?  Anyway, Richard has been taking a poll to anticipate the weather around Christmas.

Person 1: Is this as hot as it gets?
A: Oh, yes.  It definitely does not get any hotter than it is now.

Person 2: Is this as hot as it gets?
A: Oh, no way.  December is way hotter than this.

Person 3: Is December the hottest time of the year, hotter than now?
A: Yes, it's the hottest time and it's not that bad, about like now.  October, now, is way hotter.

I believe Richard's comment was, "It's easier to skewer a wild boar with a wet noodle than nail down the weather around here!"

So...the jury is still out on the weather.  I'll try to remember to post in December and let you know how it stacks up.

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